Launch date, seat maps and first-class awards: New details about Lufthansa Allegris

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Lufthansa’s much-anticipated Allegris cabins are almost here.

The German flag carrier officially took the wraps off the product earlier this month at an unveiling in Berlin, nearly six years since the first renderings were released back in November 2017.

Allegris includes new first, business, premium economy and economy cabins, and the seats look like a major improvement compared to the existing product that Lufthansa offers, especially at the pointy end of the plane.

While we’ve already covered the basics of the Allegris products, Lufthansa didn’t reveal too many details about the rollout plan, cabin configuration and pricing structure at the big Berlin event.

However, now the carrier has answers to these questions, as revealed at a recent media breakfast in New York hosted by several Lufthansa executives.

Here’s the latest.

Lufthansa already confirmed that Allegris will be installed on all new Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 Dreamliners aircraft. However, the carrier hadn’t formally announced a launch plan … until now.

Allegris will officially debut this fall, at a yet undisclosed date, onboard a brand-new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The airline is still sorting through the final arrangements, but a flight between Germany and North America will “most probably” be first.

Lufthansa has 32 Dreamliners on order, though the first batch of 787s is actually configured with a different product that was originally destined for Hainan Airlines. Now that Boeing has officially restarted Dreamliner deliveries, Lufthansa’s Allegris-configured 787 is almost ready for its inaugural.

The airline’s executives didn’t have more details to share, but this is the first public timeline we’ve seen for the Allegris entry to service.

Following the Dreamliner, Lufthansa will introduce Allegris on the Airbus A350-900, which will be the first plane to feature to carrier’s new first-class product. The current plan is to inaugurate these Allegris-equipped jets in early 2024.

Lufthansa confirmed that the existing Boeing 747-8 double-deckers will be retrofitted with Allegris, but the timeline hasn’t yet been determined. The only detail the airline shared is that the main deck of the 747-8 will feature the same number of business-class seats as the existing layout (48).

Additionally, Lufthansa’s new Boeing 777-9s will also feature Allegris when they eventually enter service.

When Allegris was unveiled, the airline shared the configuration of each aircraft type, but it stopped short of publishing a detailed seat map.

Now, however, TPG has obtained the LOPA, or layout of passenger accommodations, for the Allegris-configured Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The 266-seat Airbus A350 will feature a four-cabin configuration with three first-class suites, 38 business-class pods, 24 premium economy recliners and 201 economy seats, 22 of which will offer extra legroom. The first- and business-class cabin breaks down into:

Notably, business class is split between two cabins — one that features six rows and a smaller mini-cabin with just five rows. Unfortunately, there are only two lavatories for the entire 38-seat biz cabin, so I can already envision long lines for the bathrooms during initial descent.

There’s one dedicated lavatory at the front of the first-class cabin, and there are five bathrooms for the entire premium economy and coach cabins. There don’t appear to be any missing windows in business class, according to the LOPA.

The 287-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner will feature a three-cabin configuration with 28 business-class pods, 28 premium economy recliners and 231 economy seats, 34 of which will offer extra legroom. The business-class cabin breaks down into:

Business class is arranged in a single cabin that spans rows one through nine. There are three business-class lavatories on this jet, one at the front and two at the back of the cabin, and five restrooms for the premium economy and coach passengers.

First-class pricing and award redemptions

Lufthansa’s next-generation first-class cabin only features three seats on the Airbus A350. This represents a reduction of five seats compared to the airline’s legacy eight-pod cabin.

With such a stark decrease in premium capacity, I would’ve expected that Lufthansa would eliminate the option to redeem miles for first class, which has historically been one of my favorite redemptions.

Fortunately, that’s not the case. “We definitely will have space for redemption tickets there [in first class]. That will definitely be the case, absolutely. It’s more a question of steering than capacity,” said Dr. Bjorn Becker, senior director of product management, ground and digital services for Lufthansa, in an interview.

That said, the devil is always in the details. Just because Lufthansa says that it’ll maintain first-class redemptions, there’s no telling yet whether the airline will allow redemptions via partners or if it’ll restrict the cabin to its own Miles & More members.

Those who do pay for first class will have the option to upgrade to the first-class suite plus — a space that can fit two passengers — for an additional surcharge on top of the first-class fares.

Couples traveling together can instead book this larger space for “most probably less than the cost of two full-price first-class tickets,” Becker said.

More specific pricing and launch details are expected to be announced in the coming months, so stay tuned to TPG for the latest details.

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